They first examined themselves.

They tested their five senses-as it applied to their new monster forms.

Under the disguise made by [Loki's Tongue], they were still in their fundamental heteromorphic forms. There was one general rule that they discovered not five minutes after making the Pact: their bodies existed as if it were natural for them to have it. There was no strange disconnect with their "real world" human selves and the monstrous forms in the game that had become their new reality.

The two slimes, for example, were able to ooze their way across the ground without much change. When they needed to use "limbs", a certain part of their gelatinous mass extended. Slimes could not naturally see, hear, or smell-but the two could do it just as if they were humans. In fact, they had more sensations than was normal for humans, being able to detect minute changes in their surroundings.

"It's honestly a bit of a headache," Herohero remarked.

Next, Touch Me-san's race of insectoid did not have that much of a change. Like the slimes he'd become an invertebrate, with vastly different body organs. He had more joints than usual, and his mouth certainly wasn't something a human would readily kiss. But as usual, they all seemed natural for him to have.

"One doesn't need to be a doctor to be aware of one's body," Touch Me explained. "Conversely, people can live their whole lives without knowing what's going on inside them."

He did have heightened sight owing to his compound eyes. But he could hear, taste and smell just fine. Ulbert then surmised that it might be because of certain passive skills which elevated their monster races to near-human, or perhaps "divine" functions. Though they were heteromorphs, as players they had already gone far beyond what should be a monster's normal limits.

But that was just Ulbert-san's theory.

As for the devil Ulbert and the birdman Peroroncino, their new forms did not need much mental adjustment. The latter could fly with wings using [Avian Flight], doing it instinctively like he'd been flying since he'd been born.

Ulbert could certainly eat grass and leaves, which were in abundance in this forest. But after the first few chews he spat it out.

"It's going to be an acquired taste," he said.

In sum, no one really complained about their forms, because there were no new stimuli for them, nor did they need to overcome certain challenges.

As for Momonga, his new undead form brought them to their next problem: food.

Momonga was a skeleton. He did not need to eat. On the other hand, the two slimes needed to eat, and had expressed their ravenous hunger.

If there was a scale among the party, Momonga was at one end with "never needing to eat", then followed by Touch Me, whose specific insectoid race could eat almost anything, and could go on for days without eating, then Ulbert and Peroroncino, who were the most "human-like" in their hunger, then the slimes, who always needed to eat.

Grass and foliage did not dampen their hunger, no matter how much they dissolved into their bodies. As a stopgap, Touch Me and Ulbert lent them [Ring of Sustenance], a rare item that removed the need to eat. However, everyone had to take note of the slimes' nature-there might be a case of their needing to wear other rings.

After the first few hours of examining their bodies, what followed was the exploration of skills. Most notably, magic.

It was strange to start. In the game, they only needed to chant and move their hands in complicated gestures to activate a spell. Heck, they could even just press a button on the interface, and the game would do the action for them.

In this new world, however, they had to do a bit more. They chanted, moved their hands, but they also had to focus with their minds-summoning some unknown power from deep within themselves.

Thank goodness it was instinctual. Momonga didn't know what they'd have done if he needed to practice every gesture and memorize every chant needed to cast one of his 2000 spells.

The result of the actual spells being cast ranged from small flashes of light to-

"Cancel it, Ulbert-san! It's going to burn the forest!"

"I can't cancel it, dummy!" Ulbert roared, pointing his fingers up, causing the continuous stream of fireballs to explode in the sky. They all shielded their eyes from the sight-a useless gesture, they were all immune to blind status-and waited until the Rank 11 Maximized spell ended.

"Hmph," said Ulbert. "Well that was interesting." The seductress grinned, rubbing her fingers together in what could be construed as a lewd manner.

They agreed to be more careful with magic from then on. There was little need to be flashy unless the situation required it. Also, if there were other magic casters here, they run the risk of being seen as hostile.

"Though," said Chagama-san, "It's not like we're going to be using it on other players anymore, right?" Everyone murmured agreement-if they encountered a human, which was a given since her brother had mentioned the characters of Log Horizon had encountered "natives" of the world, they'd first negotiate instead of attacking. Even if it didn't look like a human, as long as it had some sort of sentience and were not threats, they wouldn't attack.

Not a week later and they'd look back on this moment and agree that they had all been naive.

Back to the present, Touch Me next began to test his physical prowess. He leaped from tree to tree, did backflips and other complex gymnastic moves, before doing a complicated sword dance with his sword.

"I dunno how to say this..." said Touch Me. He flexed his fingers. "But I feel pretty good. More than good. Excellent! I feel like I'm a superhero or something. I can move so fast, and I don't even get dizzy from doing somersaults again and again."

"That's awesome," said Herohero and the others.

Herohero tried with his lunging and agile moves, and got almost the same results. While he agreed that his movements were leagues better than when he was just a human, he conceded that Touch Me was faster and more capable than him.

"Nonsense," said Touch Me disguised as a hobo. "How do I say it-I'm just pretty used to this stuff from the real world. I'm sure after some time, you'll get a better hang of your capabilities. With your slime nature, you might even be able to surpass me."

This was somewhat true, if one compared their player abilities in the game. In a PvP fight using equal levels of gear, Herohero had a slight edge over Touch Me. Leaving aside his ability to slowly melt equipment, his new class levels were about making fast strikes and lunges with his slime body. His slime nature could also make his attacks curve or bend past defenses to strike at vulnerabilities. An ultimate skill, [Thousand Slime Spike] could even thrust a thousand small spikes-each sharper than adamantine-to overwhelm a fast enemy.

Touch Me, on the other hand, relied on brutal close combat using his sword and shield. He was also more specced for taking hits, making his agility a tad lower than Herohero's. And yet even with that evaluation, Momonga silently thought that Touch Me-san was still being humble. No one ascended to World Champion status on two different games just by luck.

Next, they attempted to test their other player functions. None of their macros worked, no matter how much they concentrated. Then they wanted to see if their Item Box worked.

"Oooh!" Cries of wonder were heard as they withdrew their items from a small "pocket dimension". It felt like a relief-there were some hard-earned items in that storage space. Although this was an emergency situation, a reminder that they'd once been humans playing a game, symbolized by the memories stored in every piece of item or equipment in their Item Box, bound them more strongly to their previous lives.

As they walked through the forest, they then encountered native small vermin: squirrels, giant bugs, and other critters. The two slimes practiced catching these with their bodies, as an early passive of the slime class [Vermin Eater] gave them immense food stores by eating lesser creatures. Such a useless early-game skill, only used for roleplaying, became a bit more important now. With that, they tried to return the [Ring of Sustenance], but Ulbert insisted they keep wearing those.

Every once in a while, Peroroncino flew up to survey the tops of the forest around for any disturbance. Using his various [Eye] abilities, he could detect and spy for close to five kilometres. This was what made him a deadly marksman in the game. The magic casters all had various [Fly] spells, but only Peroroncino could see into the distance with ease.

Still, so far he hadn't spotted anything yet.

Until now.

"Fire," he said, landing back down. "There's a column of smoke not that far from us." He pointed in the direction of the fire.

"Shall we investigate?" Momonga asked. Everyone nodded. "Then, if you please, Peroroncino-san, you can go ahead and scout. While I conjure-"

"I'll go on ahead as well," said Touch Me, vaulting quickly into the trees.

"Uwah! There he goes," said Chagama-san.

Ulbert preempted Momonga and cast [Cloudstrider], conjuring a sizable cloud which they could ride. The cloud was as fast as Peroroncino's flying. The four of them got on. With a wave, the cloud began to move towards the fire.


Gologriki thought it all unfair. He was the strongest warrior among his mudmates. And yet because of Malatriti's trickery in the sparring arena, the Demon King uplifted the scheming boar instead of him.

Now he had to suffer under the bastard's command. A thankless job, but one he had to do, to ensure his family in the capital was well-fed. Fresh humans were becoming a rarity in this world. Most of the scraps they ate came from captured zombies from the armies of Night Queen Shalltear. In other words, undead flesh. They were once taboo for the pig-men, but necessity forced them to abide.

Malatriti had received information from up high that there were still pockets of humans hiding in the Dread Forest near Great Tomb Nazarick. If they managed to capture at least five humans, they could feast on a leg, or at least a head. The prospect gave Gologriki a small morale boost.

The shaman's tracking magic found the humans before long. Malatriti snorted at him to begin, and Gol grudgingly did. His small force of brutes wielded thick, menacing clubs, intended to knock out or disable instead of outright killing. Live humans were a commodity much sought in the Kingdom of the Faithful.

Soon, he and his men could scent the humans. They had a sweet, cloying scent much different from other species, though elves smelled the best. But humans were a good second, and his snout was able to tell there were at least ten humans in the camp up ahead.

Someone in his troop roared, breaking the silence. Gol punched the offending brute silent, but the damage was done. They heard screams, chaos. An arrow came flying to hit a brute on the shoulder. Enraged, the brute charged, and Gol could no longer hold them back from attacking.


She couldn't believe they'd gotten so lax.

After almost a month fleeing from the Demon King's hellhound packs, her band of survivors had been reduced in half. Most collapsed due to hunger or the stress from their numerous wounds. These corpses they burned, to spare their bodies and souls from depravity.

Then, they were able to flee to the Dread Forest. Despite the name, Nemu knew they were one of the few truly safe places in the world. She'd been there ten years ago, when she'd served in the Imperial army as a scout. Her group had mapped the Forest, a suicide mission, but by the end they'd concluded that the greatest danger in the Forest was a snake in the bush. It appeared that the Nazarick creatures had cleansed the Forest long before.

They'd spent some weeks here in relative safety, subsisting on the few animals they could hunt. There was some grumbling in the group, but they knew there was no true alternative. It was either this despair-ridden life in the outskirts, or a hellish existence on the breeding farms.

Nemu at least thought they'd be relatively safe. There had been no signs of pursuit.

She cursed her carelessness.

The pig-men charged into the barricades, stumbling over the traps they'd set. A particularly hidden snapping bear-trap caught one of the pig-men, and Nemu felt some pleasure in hearing its screams.

But they had to run. Already, everyone was running their own way. She regretted not being able to rally everyone. At this point, they may just run into the group of beasts that were likely waiting outside, having surely encircled their encampment.

But Nemu Emrot could not longer bring herself to care. She had to survive, even by herself.

She had to save her. Had to give her peace.

Gathering her belongings, she unslung her bow, prepared an arrow, then rushed into the bushes. She closed her eyes, willing herself to block out the numerous screams around her.

She started to crawl.


Foolishly, one of the brutes kicked fire into the tents. That began a dangerous blaze in the camp.

Gol hastily ordered the remaining brutes to dig up dirt to smother the fires. If this spread, they might literally get cooked in the forest fire to come.

When the fire grew small enough, Gol ordered a brute to report to Malatriti about their success. The captured humans were laid on a pile.

Gol took a couple of brutes and left the camp to begin rooting for survivors. It was just a precaution, but it was a hungry boar who did not forage in the bushes thoroughly.

Not long after, he found a scent.


Nemu smelled them quickly.

Whoosh!

She let fire with an arrow, killing one of the beasts. Wasting no time, she hastily brought the next arrow to shoot at the brute that came running.

If she could just kill these, she'd get a head-start fleeing. She knew pig-men to be meticulous, and no doubt they'd go around in circles searching for her. But they were also naturally cowardly, and if she could kill these three, she'd become a fearful existence. Then they might not even have to chase her, being content with the people they'd already captured.

She felt the ground rumble. Knowing she could not draw another arrow, she prepared her curved daggers, tensed, then swiped at the last charging pig-man. She aimed at the thing's legs, hoping to hamstring the beast.

"Guh!"

The beast had anticipated her swing, and had knocked her dagger away.

No matter.

She rolled forward. The other dagger was still in her hand. She crouched, watching the beast.


Gol chuckled. This one was feisty. And skilled, as he felt the brutes die even before their tusks hit the ground.

He licked his lips. Once again, his hunger reared up to torment him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd tasted fresh human. Even if it would render the corpse invalid, at least just one bite...

And if it were this fragrant female, that was a double dose of satisfaction. They were just so fine and chewable, their bones making fine noises in his mouth.

He readied his club.

No one need ever know.

His beady eyes watched the human's stance, anticipated where she'd strike. He could take her. He'd taken on brutes far stronger than this stringy female. Knock her out, then take a nibble-perhaps a leg, or one of its breasts.

But it was then-


And it was then-


Gol heard a noise. He turned his head, half-expecting to have to argue with Malatriti or one of the brutes. But it was not a pig-man.

Another human!

The female shouted something, and Gol stepped back. Two on one wasn't good odds, even if the human wasn't wearing any armor whatsoever. He could clearly spy the weapons on its back.

And the mask... there was something unnerving about its faceless visage: plain, brown, expressionless.

Gol wasted no time. He turned and ran.


Nemu Emmot could hardly believe it. A white warrior had suddenly appeared, and had made the pig-man flee.

She stood up, eyeing the newcomer warily. She still held on to her dagger.

"Who are you?" she asked, edging her way to the nearest tree-trunk. If it started to attack, she hoped to use the forest to flee and hide.

She could not exactly say why she was wary. The warrior looked fairly innocuous.

But then she remembered the angels a long time ago, who were the perfect image of holiness. And yet they had ravaged her village.

She steeled her heart.

Then it said, "Are you alright?"

The voice was muffled, but it sounded human. Still, Nemu kept her guard up. Plenty of fiends mimicked human speech perfectly.

"Who are you?"

"Touch Me."

"Touch who? You?"

"No, my name is Touch Me. I am a warrior of Ainz Ooal Gown." The warrior put its hand to its chest and bowed.

"Ainz... what is that, a country?"

"No, you could say that it is a... guild. Do you understand?"

"A guild? Like the Adventurer's Guild?" The institution was long defunct, ever since the Theocracy fell. But there were demi-humans calling themselves adventurers roaming the lands.

"Well, yes. We are adventurers of sorts."

"So... you're lying." She explained the Adventurer Guild's fate. "If you say you come from them, then I know you're trying to deceive me!" She made to leave.

"Wait, wait!" he cried. "You misunderstand. We are not this 'Adventurer's Guild'. We are Ainz Ooal Gown. And I swear on the name of Touch Me that no harm shall befall you."

"Honeyed words," said Nemu coldly. "But I am no fool."

After a short pause, the warrior said, "Then, I do not intend to stop you anymore, but please answer me... Who was that strange creature? And why were you fighting it?"

Nemu gave the warrior a puzzled glance. There was supposed to be no one who didn't know about the plight of humanity, and the ascendancy of the other races. Pig-men joined the ranks of goblins, orcs, and the other beastmen races in persecuting humanity in the name of their new masters.

She decided not to answer.

Perhaps sensing her resolve, the warrior waved his gauntleted hands in a gesture of surrender. "Fine, it's fine. I won't stop you any longer. But please, take this." By some sleight of hand, there now was a glass bottle on the warrior's palm. Inside was liquid as red as blood. "This is a healing potion. Please take it and use it for yourself." He tossed it toward her.

She caught the potion handily. She glared at the warrior.

That act of throwing might well have been like throwing a bomb or a flask of acid at her. She glanced at the bottle, testing the way the liquid sloshed inside. She had some experience with mixtures, having spent some time with the legendary Nfirea Bareare.

When she looked up, the strange white warrior had disappeared.


Gol slowed to a stop. There was some sort of commotion in the camp.

He heard complaints, shouts, threats. The remaining brutes surrounded Malatriti, who was gnawing on a human's head. In the next moment, Gol found himself angry as well, and pushed through the crowd to face the leader.

"A good haul, my warriors!" Malatriti shouted. His mouth was full of meat. "But forgive me, it is not time for us to eat yet."

"And why are you eating?" Gol demanded. "It is not in the rules for anyone, even the leader, to eat what is supposed to be tribute for the masters!"

"Yeah," shouted a number of brutes.

"Shut up! I work tirelessly to lead this pitiful group, so it's only fitting that some of the rewards go to me! What would you wretches know of leadership? Huh?"

"I'm sure I can teach you a lot of things, Malatriti," Gol growled. "Malatriti the Spineless. Malatriti the Tuskless. Tell me, Malatriti, without your poisons, what are you but a coward?"

"What? You go too far, Gologriki!" Malatriti brandished his spiked mace, holding the end towards Gol's snout. Gol growled, and spat on the ground.

"I shall take my rightful place, Malatriti. The position of warleader shall go to-" Gol stopped. He had sensed something amiss around him. Malatriti, having felt the same, twitched his ears and looked around.

He knew the brutes would stand down when two males were about to fight. But they shouldn't be this silent.

Pig-men snorted and stomped even if they didn't say anything. So this pure silence was not just eerie, it was-

And then he saw what all the other pig-men were seeing.

There stood a group of humans. Not something to fear, of course, but the random assortment made him pause.

There was a small girl. There was a tall female. There was a blonde man in a cape. There was a man whose muscles bulged like an ogre. Then, standing right behind them, was what looked to be a young magic caster.

"Humans!" cried Malatriti, dropping the head. He knocked away a pig-man who stood in the way. "Well what are you waiting for? Get them!"

None of the pig-men moved. Something like instinct blocked their actions. There was something to these humans, maybe the way they didn't look like the ragged creatures they just captured, or the shining light in their eyes.

Gol could also understand the feeling, and he hesitated to charge; though it was for a different reason.

He didn't know if the pig-men or Malatriti noticed, but the humans had no scent. It was something unnatural. The Demon Lord, even in his magnificence, smelled like ash. Humans smelled sweet, his family smelled like home. Even the undead smelled, they smelled bad, and wrong.

And he could smell nothing from these harmless-looking humans.

Instead, he felt-

Fear.

What? He gritted his teeth. Impossible. These were just ordinary humans. Perhaps the magic caster was the leader, and could perhaps be able to cast troublesome spells. But what could a small girl, or that arrogant looking man in a cape do?

Human children were even better tribute, but he'd only ever seen a few. Apparently it was because they made for such lovely playthings for the demons.

Then there was the caped man, who looked like some sort of noble. He'd seen so-called nobles scream allegiance to the Demon Lord during the annual festivals, and saw them as pitiful things. As a pig-man he understood these creatures were formerly leaders of the humans, much like Malatriti was.

So what did he have to "fear"?

The spell was broken-if indeed there was a spell-when the big human said, "What is that-are you seriously eating humans, you monsters?"

Their gazes sharpened, making Gol gasp.

Where before the humans weren't emitting anything, now there was intense pressure that seemed to come out of nowhere. It was like his heart was being crushed by a dozen boulders. He smelled some of the brutes shit themselves screaming.

"Oi," said the big human. "Answer me, damn it! Is this... is this that type of world?" The human clenched his fist, and made as if to walk forward.

"Stop, Herohero-san," said the woman, thrusting a hand to keep him back. "Didn't we all agree to give natives a chance?"

"But you saw them too, Ulbert-san! They were eating-they were-"

"Enough!" shouted Malatriti. He charged, raising his mace. Gol didn't know whether to praise the bastard for his bravery, or pity him for foolishness. "They're just humans, you shits! They're just good for eating-"

Splat!

A second before Malatriti could reach the closest human-the small girl-he disappeared.

Something hot and wet hit Gol's face. Then, the rest of his body. He grunted, wiping away the stuff that had landed on his eyes.

He blinked. It was blood.

He looked at where Malatriti had been. There was a fountain of blood spouting out from what looked to be his legs.

Everything above that had disappeared into thin air.

"Ah." The muscular man had his arm raised, palm outward, as if to stop the warleader's charge. That hand was now slick with blood.

The human stared at the stumps of leg that had once been Malatriti. He looked around at the other humans. "Uh-oh."

The brutes squealed. They turned around and ran, and Gol ran with them. He did not have time to be smug that Malatriti had died an stupid death-not when death was close by.

"Hey, where the heck are you going?" he heard one of the humans say. "You haven't answered our question! [Magnetic Rune]!"

Immediately he felt as if a hand gripped his neck, and dragged him backward through the air. There came the sound of flesh hitting flesh as he collided with the bodies of other brutes.

Dazed, he looked up, and saw that he was huddled in a small mountain of squirming pig-men. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't extract himself from the pile.

He was only able to watch as the strange humans approached.

As they did, Gologriki felt a sense of impending doom.


"I... I... killed someone..." Herohero muttered.

"Calm down, Herohero-san," said Momonga, though in his heart, he still felt the same stab of horror when Herohero just thrust out his hand and somehow exploded the pig-man on contact.

Peroroncino laughed, somewhat hysterically. "We sure aren't in Yggdrasil anymore, guys. I mean, I'm quite sure those aren't pixels."

He pointed at the surroundings, which had been dyed red.

That, and the blood, and the carcass left behind by the monster, wiped away all thoughts that this was all just an ultra-realistic beta test by the shitty devs.

Yggdrasil had a rating restriction. If there were any content judged to be above that threshold in the game, the company would receive more than just a reprimand. This was why, even if it was a PvP-style, when a player was killed he just exploded into light, not into gory pieces. Other content such as sex and the such were also not present.

Thus, there was one conclusion in their brain.

This was reality. This was not just a game.

Chagama-san laughed, almost echoing her little brother. Ulbert had a strange glint in his eyes.

They could not help being that way. In the span of five minutes, they'd witnessed something most people wouldn't see in a lifetime, outside of movies or television.

Still, for all his pity at the slain pig-man, Momonga had yet to get over the sight of their eating a human, like it was a piece of food. Momonga suffered intense feelings of disgust and nausea, which were promptly stifled by his undead trait.

Before, he'd been annoyed that he couldn't feel happy for long; he was thankful now that it helped him stop the feelings of disgust.

"It seems I'm late," said a voice. Touch Me walked out from the trees, as casual as can be.

He couldn't see his expression because of the mask (and even his normal self was covered in a helm). Momonga wondered what he thought, seeing all this.

"W-we have to see to the people," Chagama-san said, running over to the pile. The others followed, Momonga keeping an eye on the pig-men. The [Magnetic Rune]'s effects lasted five minutes for those under Level 50; above that and they could break it immediately if they had the right amount of stats.

"This is..." Herohero mouthed, looking at the severed head.

Peroroncino doubled over, and made gagging noises. Ulbert gulped loudly, while Touch Me worked to separate the tangle of bodies.

Once again, Momonga was afflicted by many feelings of revulsion, but a second later the undead trait snuffed that out. Still, his feelings continued to boil below the surface, not truly extinguished.

"Touch Me-san," said Chagama-san, her voice now her normal one. Though they only heard that voice when she was angry, now it sounded so muted. Defeated.

Touch Me shook his head. He withdrew his hand from the last body. "Though their bodies are warm, they don't have a pulse. Nearly all of them were from-" the man hesitated. "Head trauma. A lot of it."

Chagama-san's hand clenched. Momonga saw it was trembling.

She turned around, walked to the pig-men. Her arm extended, like a piece of taffy, completely disregarding the Loki Disguise.

The arm gripped one of the pig-men who looked distinctive from the rest. He had on better-looking armor, and had a distinctive tattoo on his snout.

Chagama-san dragged that one out, breaking the pull of the [Magnetic Rune]. That required a lot of strength. Or anger.

"Talk, monster," Chagama-san snarled. "Who are you? Why are you eat-hunting humans?"

The others were now surrounding the singled out pig-man.

Momonga saw their eyes glitter with fury. If he had a mirror, he was sure his own eyes were the same.


All warriors had a danger sense.

Beast-men even more so, often being born in brutal conditions.

It allowed them to avoid bad things. A poisonous fruit. A stronger predator.

Eventually, a danger sense became necessary for working on the front-lines, where one would encounter danger every moment of one's life.

Gol's danger sense had overloaded the moment the short female dragged him out from the strange magic.

This was more than just shivering from fear.

His body felt like it was being crushed beneath an ocean, impaled by a million icy spikes, and caught in a vicious cyclone.

All at once.

His mind, which couldn't reconcile the fact that this feeling came from ordinary looking humans. Like a young girl? A half-naked man?

He exhaled.

But he couldn't.

He was choking on something.

Moment by moment, he felt his mind flying.

He knew nothing.

He was...

Nothing.


"It seems he fainted," Touch Me remarked.

The pig-man had froth coming from its snout. Also, it smelled bad.

"Then, the next-" Herohero said, turning to the pile of captured pig-men.

"No, they're also fainted," said Ulbert.

"Ugh, I think this one and that one shitted-or more like, the scent's growing stronger! Shit! It stinks!"

To Momonga, whose sense of smell was nonexistent at best, he thanked his undead trait again. He could see that Peroroncino and Ulbert were once again more affected by it.

Still, he knew it wasn't the time to feel flippant about the situation. Looking coldly at the situation, technically they were just people arriving at a scene where something like aliens (the pig-men) were killing and eating other people.

"Everyone..." he called their attention. "What do we do about-" He gestured to all the pig-men.

"Kill them," said Chagama-san promptly.

"No, that would be too much. We cannot condemn them based on small evidence," said Touch Me. "This one didn't manage to reveal anything concrete."

"I'm sure we can if we could-" Ulbert stopped, looking at Touch Me, then at Momonga. Then Ulbert shook his head. "Never mind."

There was a question mark in Momonga's head at that.

"Yeah, nee-san, we can't just kill these guys, even if they're total bastards..." said Peroroncino.

"You saw them! They were eating these guys! And were probably about to eat those others they killed!"

"Yeah!" agreed Herohero. "Let's finish them!"

While Peroroncino wavered, Ulbert rejoined, saying, "As I said, let's not be too hasty."

"Hoh. It's a surprise, hearing that from the 'bloodthirstiest' guy in the guild," said Touch Me.

Ulbert snorted. "It's nothing as noble as 'because they might be innocent', believe me. But think, you two," he addressed the two slimes. "Suppose we kill them, and somehow word comes back to these ones' superiors? And then we find out later that they're from the majority powers in this world. They'll get pissed. That'll make our lives here harder. Though," he added after a chuckle. "I sure welcome the challenge."

"So what you're saying is... play it safe?" asked Momonga.

"Just think: imagine we were back in Japan, and we receive word that six cow-shaped aliens have killed the people in the slaughterhouse, thus freeing the cows there. What would we think? What would the government think?"

"We'd be hunted down. Special Forces. Pew pew," said Peroroncino, shooting an imaginary gun.

"That's why, in my opinion, for now we cool our heads and assess the situation better. If later on, these creatures really are evil bastards, then..." Ulbert's smile didn't need further words.

"Hmm. This is one of those rare occasions where I agree with Ulbert-san for once. And what's more, we also agree as to reasons. We don't have enough information on this world yet." Touch Me raised his hand, as if making a vow. "I vote not to kill them."

"I vote we do," said Chagama-san.

"Yeah, we should," said Herohero.

"I vote no," said Ulbert.

"No," said Peroroncino. He glanced worriedly at his sister.

They all looked at Momonga. He felt a tiny bit of pressure. With his vote, they could tie it for an impasse, or he'd push the motion for sparing them. Still, he shared Ulbert and Touch Me's caution.

"I vote no. Thus the decision is: we spare the pig-men," Momonga announced. He sighed. He saw Chagama-san and Herohero-san frowning, though they nodded in acceptance when the rest looked at them.

"What should we do with them then?" said Chagama-san.

"That doesn't need a vote," said Touch Me. "But it would be prudent to take away their weapons." He nodded at Herohero. "And this would be a good chance to see if your equipment melting ability is still intact."

"I'll do one better. I want to see if it's possible to [Consume] them."

It was. There was a faint satisfaction-and wonder-coming from everyone as they witnessed the yakuza reach out and gobble up gear like he was doing a simple magician trick.

"Yuck!"

"What's wrong?"

Herohero's face twisted, like he'd eaten something sour. "All their equipment tastes bad. And it's really sour, like milk gone bad. Yeesh."

"Well, they were just pigs," said Ulbert. "Probably low level, if we were talking Yggdrasil levels..."

Momonga, Bukubukuchagama and Touch Me moved on to looking over at the corpses of the humans.

"Do we...?" Momonga said, trailing off, though everyone knew what the question was.

Resurrection. At the back of their minds, there was that concern. They obviously could not test it by themselves. But in a world as realistic as this, such magic couldn't just be considered lightly.

If they could, then they had no fear of death. Everyone here had resurrection abilities, whether from a consumable item or their abilities.

But was it really right to use them?

"No." This time, Touch Me's voice was firm, like there was steel behind them. "I can... tell that they've lived hard lives. They deserve their rest."

"Maybe they deserve it," asked Chagama-san. "But was it right to take away their choice? Maybe they'd prefer to live."

Touch Me made a harrumphing sound. "We cannot do such magics lightly. The implications alone-"

"Think of it this way, sis," said Peroroncino. "Going back to Ulbert-san's explanation, do we really need to show we can make cows out of hamburgers?"

Chagama-san glared at her brother. "Then, if we preserve-"

"No. This is no longer a game, respectfully, Chagama-kun." Touch Me's way of talking had changed. Usually, he referred to everyone in the guild as an equal, but now he was asserting his place as a somewhat older man. "If you insist, I shall have to do everything in my power to stop you."

"What? You better hold your horses, old man!" said Peroroncino, who drew his weapon.

"Touch Me-san!" Momonga shouted. Already, Touch Me looked like he was really going to start attacking. He was emitting a bad feeling-was this like killing intent?

Touch Me grunted. He stood, then walked away.

Momonga stared after him. He could not believe he was seeing a different aspect to his longtime friend.

"Well, Chagama-san, I have a compromise," said Ulbert. "I can cast [Preserve Corpse] to put them in a 'stasis'. Their corpses will remain fresh. So later, if we need to, we can just resurrect them, as you wanted."

"Ulbert-san..."

Ulbert shook his head. "It shames me to admit it, but I also agree with Touch Me-san again. But the sooner we get a better picture, the sooner we can think better on what we can do while we wait."

Waiting to be brought back to reality, was left unsaid. Momonga certainly still banked on being able to return.

Thanks to Ulbert's intercession, the corpses were put in stasis, then buried in elaborate coffins that Chagama-san conjured.

They then made a sort of mound, which Momonga enchanted with a variety of long-lasting illusions. One spell would alert him if someone stumbled onto the burial site.

Herohero finished by marking the area with a rune using an item.

The six of them stood before the makeshift grave-site.

Some had their heads bowed.

An intense look burned on Chagama-san's and Herohero-san's face.

Ulbert and Touch Me were inscrutable, the latter even more so because of the paper bag mask.

Peroroncino was the one who looked upset, and he was sure it would have been on his own face, were it not for his undead trait.

"Then, our next step is to leave this forest. We know there's civilization somewhere. We've got to make contact, and find out the whole truth."

After a lot of debate, they chose to move west.

It was because Peroroncino thought he could see something in the distance.


The nightmares plagued her for days.

Thanks to the disastrous experience, Nemu did not stay in one place for too long.

She moved through the forest, living off freshly caught animals. There was no time to cook them over a fire.

She always made sure to stay clear off the west, where their campsite had been.

In that direction also lay the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

She still kept the red potion with her. A small part of her, though long weary of betrayal and suffering, trusted in that white warrior.

Then, one morning, she vaguely heard footsteps in her sleep.

She was instantly on guard, her daggers ready to intercept. She looked around, trying to assess where the sound came from.

"Oh, if it isn't Nemu-sama. Good day."

At that sudden voice, Nemu screamed. After she whirled around, heart thudding, she relaxed.

In fact, she even collapsed, in relief, falling to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

It was an old man, radiating an aura of nobility. But behind that was an iron will, as straight and sharp as his posture.

"Oh? Are you alright, Nemu-sama?"

Sebas Tian. The Coward. The Traitor. Enemy of Humanity.

They had many epithets for him. They were words spouted since that fateful day years ago.

Uttered by humans defeated after a long, gruelling war.

But she, who had met the man herself, knew the truth. She understood.

She smiled at him. Even years later, he looked largely unchanged. He was unblemished, like a venerable figure inside a painting.

While she-was this useless wreck of a human.

She could feel his strong hands holding her.

"Ah... if Sebas-sama is here, I must be in heaven..."

Sebas' laugh was like a rumbling thunder. "What are you talking about? You are alive, Nemu-sama. Though, I can tell you are exhausted. Hm?"

She heard something like glass falling to the ground.

"This is... A healing potion from that place..? Wait, but that would mean..! Nemu-sama, where did you get this from? Nemu-sama?"

It was a disgrace. She shouldn't have surrendered herself like this-there were enemies about...

But for some reason, she could no longer see Sebas.

Ah, am I dying?

"Nemu-sama? Oh, my. Still, where could she have-But no, it can't be..."


Guild Brokerage "The Burning Eye" dossier

Momonga

Alignment: Extreme Evil (exact level unknown)

Race:

Skeleton Mage, Skeleton King, Elder Lich, Overlord

Jobs:

Necromancer, Master of Death, Eclipse (?)

Mythic:

Sorcerer King, Ancient Sage (?)

Bonus:

God of Unlife

Comments: As per guidelines, classes with a question mark are to be treated as uncertain info. As the Guildmaster of [Ainz Ooal Gown], his killing potential is a solid S. In order to kill him or her, a good force of people with S threat level is needed, while also using favorable conditions. As undead, holy-magic users will have an advantage. Since he is a deity, be warned of sudden guild ambush via teleportation if spotted alone. [Ainz Ooal Gown] have used similar baiting tactics multiple times in the past. Is a known cash item user.


Shurpuff says: Thanks for reading! Any comments appreciated! And more to come.